Notes
Mark’s notes on Shostakovich Symphony No.7
Shostakovich Symphony No.7 The lowest estimate for the number of Soviet people murdered for political reasons between 1928 and 1941 is 7.9 million. Some people claim that Stalin was responsible for as many as three times that number of deaths. … Continue reading
Mark’s notes on Shostakovich Symphony Nos. 5, 6 & 10
Shostakovich Symphonies 5, 6, 10 The late 1930s The main purpose of the terror that Stalin inflicted on the Soviet people in the 1930s was simply to create fear itself. The dictator could maintain power as long as there was … Continue reading
Mark’s notes on Shostakovich Symphony No.14
Shostakovich Symphony No 14 Shostakovich went into hospital on 13th January 1969. Having never properly recovered from a heart attack of three years before, he had by now lost the comfortable use of his right hand and could hardly walk. … Continue reading
Mark’s notes on Shostakovich Symphony No.8
Shostakovich Symphony No 8 Such was the popularity of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony that one American radio station offered the Soviet government $10,000 for the rights to the first broadcast of its successor. But the worldwide reaction to the Leningrad Symphonywas … Continue reading
Mark’s notes on Shostakovich Symphony No.13
Shostakovich Symphony No 13 By 19th September 1941, the German Army had reached Kiev and a week later the following notice was put up around the city: ‘All Jews living in the city of Kiev and its vicinity are to … Continue reading
Mark’s notes on Shostakovich Symphony Nos. 9 and 12
Shostakovich Symphony No 9 in Eb major, Op 70 (1945) Since Beethoven, every composer embarking on his ninth symphony has felt under pressure trying to cope with a public’s heightened expectation of the work. In Shostakovich’s case that burden was … Continue reading
Mark’s notes on Shostakovich Symphony No.4
Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 43 In the autumn of 1935, the still young but already much fêted Shostakovich had every reason to start composing his Fourth Symphony with supreme confidence. His recent opera Lady Macbeth of … Continue reading
Mark’s notes on Shostakovich Symphony No.11
Symphony No. 11, ‘The Year 1905’, Op. 103 On the morning of Sunday 9th January 1905, thousands of Russians gathered in front of the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. The country’s economy was in dire straits; and yet despite extreme … Continue reading
